2: 2
Mom and I got to Nellie Edwards' place fast, and the second we stepped inside, the living room was wrecked.
Olivia Finch lay on the floor, bruises in a dozen places on her arms and legs, moaning through slurred, broken words.
Nellie strode over and jabbed a finger in Mom's face. "Lydia Lambert, you animal. Is this how you take care of my mother?"
"She can't even care for herself anymore. You're the housekeeper, and you'd raise your hand to her like this? Aren't you afraid of what's coming to you?"
I stepped in front of Mom and said, firm, "Quit throwing dirt on us. Mom and I already left. There's no way we could have laid a hand on your mother."
Nellie planted both hands on her hips, chin up, brazen. "Don't waste your breath. Have your mother pay up. Two hundred thousand, not a cent less."
"If you don't pay today, I'll make sure your mother eats prison food."
The building manager showed up right on cue, all smiles for Nellie.
"Our valued resident, what's got you this upset?"
Nellie looked down her nose at the two of us, voice thick with resentment. "The new housekeeper I hired. She abused my mother the moment I wasn't around."
"And fifty thousand from my wallet is gone. It has to be these two who stole it."
The manager shot us a look of pure disdain. "A couple of country hicks. Poor people have no pride, and their hands are never clean."
"If you ask me, you should just call the police. Let them eat prison food."
Mom panicked completely at that, shaking her head over and over. "I really didn't abuse anyone. I never even started the job."
"My daughter and I just went to the park nearby. The cameras there should have it all recorded."
The manager gave a cold snort. "The cameras at that park broke a month ago. Stop making excuses for yourself and pay up."
The corner of Nellie's mouth curled into a flicker of satisfaction, almost too faint to catch.
"Lydia Lambert, your daughter's a college student. If this really blows up and you land in prison with a record,"
"then your daughter's future is finished too. So think about it. Settle privately, or the police?"
Hearing that, Mom broke down. She rushed to stop me. "Please, no. My daughter fought her way out of those mountains. I can't ruin it for her."
Nellie folded her arms across her chest and spoke in a cold voice. "Then pay up. My mother's medical bills, and compensation for the emotional damage."
"Plus the fifty thousand you stole. Give me two hundred thousand and we'll settle this privately."
Mom's eyes went wide, disbelieving. "Two hundred thousand? I'm a woman from the countryside. Where would I ever get that kind of money? Can't it be less?"
The manager shouted at Mom, "Can't scrape the money together now, so now you're scared? Where's all that swagger from when you were abusing an old woman?"
"If you can't produce the money today, don't even think about walking out of here!"
I shielded Mom behind me and looked Nellie dead in the eye.
"My mother didn't abuse anyone. It's all your lie. Go ahead and call the police. The innocent have nothing to fear."
Seeing that I wasn't scared, Nellie turned to her eighty-year-old mother and put on a wronged, pitiful face.
"I never thought my mother, over eighty years old, would have to suffer like this. I never thought those elder-abuse stories online would one day happen to me."
The manager pointed at Mom's face and accused her loudly, "An animal who abuses old people like this, you'll get what's coming to you."
Then a message popped up on my phone.
Once I saw what it said, I let out a breath and stared straight into Nellie's eyes.
I told myself: This time I'll tear your lie wide open, and you'll reap what you've sown.
